A last question on possible autobiographical influences.
You were born in 1951 and thus experienced the afterbirth
of the second world war. Of this drama we find a mere
trace in Coutoo, that's all. We ask ourselves
what the second world war means to you. What did you hear
about it? Did the memory of wartime play an important
part in your childhood?

Andreas: I only know the story of my mother who
experienced the bombing of Dresden and lost her mother and
sister. She studied then. It is especially the period in
Dresden that was important to my family. My father wasn't
a soldier, he was a doctor, also in Dresden. But he wasn't
there during the bombardment. I believe they forgot to enlist
him, or at least that is the story they tell in my family.
They also forgot my brother. Just forgotten, like my father.
I hear more about what my mother experienced. Also because
my father died too early for me. He died at 74, but later
on I realized: "I should have asked him more
questions." There are many things I don't know
about my father. That is something you realize too late.
At the same time I found enough letters from my mother,
correspondence, photographs. After my mother's death I
found the letter she wrote my father to let him know that
her mother and sister died. It is really very strange to
read that. That side is much clearer. Maybe that's why
there are less mothers in my stories, because I know a
lot about mine. While some episode is missing of my father.